Adhesive and process of making same.



. To all whom it may concern:

' UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Jnaomn ALEXANDER,

Specification of Letters Patent.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

I ADHESIVE ANT) IPROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

No Drawing. Continuation of application Serial No. 849,864, filed July9, 1914. This application filed November 30, 1917.

Be. it known that I,JERME ALEXANDER,

.a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan,city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovementsi-n-Adhesives and Processes of Making the Same, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to a non-gelatinizing glue-derived adhesivecharacterized by the property when dry of being readily soluble in coldwater, andt0 the process of producing same.

Heretofore, animal glue adhesives in liquid form have not beenpracticable articles of commerce because of the tendency of the gluesolution to 'gelatinize. It has been customary, therefore, tomanufacture glue in dry form, and to ship and sell it as piece glue. Foruseful application, the prepara tion of such glue requires the mixing.of it with heated Water and stirring it therein until dissolved andliquid. Stirring it into water at ordinary temperatures isinefl'ective,- since glue does not dissolve in cold water. and it istherefore necessary to heat or boil such a mixture.

With my improved adhesive the gelati nization of the glue-in solution iscontrolled as desired and may either be totally in- 'hibited orpartially so, dependent upon the relative quantity of gel-inhibitantemployed. My product may be marketed therefore as a ready-mixed liquidglue if desired, or as a dry glue. As a dry product, the solubility ofthe glue is so increased by the presence of the gel-inhibiting agentthat I it readily dissolves in water at ordinary temq ing substance.

peratures. Such increased solubility results primarily from the methodof treatment above described, whereby the gelatinization of the glue iscontrollably prevented and is further augmented by the use. as agel-inhibitant, of 'a substance having a high- '45 water-aflinity, andpreferably one that is also exothermic.

My improved process essentially consists in the VA duction of animalderived glue to afinely ivided form and mixing therewith a finelydivided dry, inorganic gel-inhibit- The resultant adhesive has thecapacity-of being readily dissolved by water at ordinary temperatureswhen mixed therewith, since the tendency to gelatiniza- Serial No.204,732.

tion is prevented and the water or similar solvent is thereby permittedto continue to act upon the glue particles. It has the further capacitywhen dissolved by water of remaln ng fluid, due to the inhibition ofgelatin1zat1on. The dry product is preferable as an article of commerceboth because cheaper to package, since .liquid glue such as fish gluehas to be so shipped as to prevent leakage, and because cheaper to ship,since the increased bulk and weight due to the large fluid content,greatly increases the cost of transportation. It is also preferablebecause it may be readily used since it can be dissolved without heat.Theliquid glue obtained therefrom is capable of the uses for whichliquid glue is generally adapted, either alone or in combination withother substances, as, for example, for sizing and the like purposes. Theadvantage of partial gel-inhibition: renders it particularly adaptablefor use in the production of calcimine, since by the use of a lessquantity of gel-inhibitant, partial gelatinization may be permitted, sothat the whiting employed in the manufacture of calcimine Will notsettle out but will be held in suspension in the mixture by thecontrolled gelatinization of the glue constituent.

The proportion of gel-inhibitant to be em ployed with any specific kindof glue will Vary according to the jelly-strength of the glue, the rulebeing that the higher the jelly-strength the larger the relativepercentage of gel-inhibitant required to cause the adhesive produced,when mixed with a given amount of water, 'to remain fluid at a giventemperature.

In practising my invention, the principle of gel-inhibition may beapplied either by a Wet or a dry process, examples of both of which areselected, as follows:

The wet process.

glue in sufficient warm water to make a fluid solution therewith; mixthese resultantsolutions thoroughly; evaporate the Water from themixture, and comminute the resldue.

\ The dry process. 'Pulverize a suitable metallic salt; sepformation ofge arately pulverize a commercial glue; and mechanicallymix the powderedsubstances intimately.

As will be understood from the foregoing, the essential steps of eitherprocess are the reduction of glue and the gel-inhibiting substance eachto a finely divided form and the intimate mixture of the two.

As a specific example of materials and proportions, the following isgiven:

Grind or otherwise reduce to a finely divided form a commercial animalglue. Assuming such glue to have a jelly-strength of 50, whichcorresponds to the ade commonly known as Coopers 1i, ta e 50 partsthereof by weight.

Granulate or otherwise finely divide calcium chlorid of commercialquality, and take 17 parts thereof by weight. Mechanically mix the twosubstances intimately.

. This mixture will then be soluble in water at 20 C. and will passentirely into solution with 50 parts of water by weight when com! binedwith the dry mixture.

Since my process is directed to the treatment of glue so asito arrestits gelatinizing tendency, in practising this process I can employ anyinorganic substance which acts as a gel-inhibitant to control the gelformation.

' Throughout this specification and. the claims defining my invention,the term gelinhibitant is employed as descriptive of such dry inorganicsubstance as is characterized by the roperty of preventing the in ananimal glue solution, or whose presence in a solution of such lue hasthe power of decreasin the je lystrength thereof. Such gel-in ibitantmay be employed in such proportion ast'o pre I .vent'gelatinizajtion ofgluein solution, or in less proportion to permit partial gelatinizationupon standing. Since the solubility of animal glue varies withitsstrength of gelatinization, other conditions being the same, glues oflow jelly-strength liquefy at lower temperatures than those of highjelly- My invention therefore contemplates the addition to an animalglue of any inorganic substance which prevents the formation of gel in aglue solution, thus preserving the initial fluidity "thereof; or theaddition of such quantity as will limit such formation to the desireddegree. The adhesive *thus produced is substantially unaffected as tothe other properties of the particular kind and grade of glue employed.

The solubility, however, is. at the maximum,

' and when mixed with a solvent the fluidity of the mixture variesaccording to the degree of the inhibition of the tendency togelatiniz'ation.

The class of substances having thehighest functional efficiencyasgel-inhibitantsnow known to me are certain of the metallic salts,

. ercised. Preferably employment separately finely dividing twosubstances while to wit, those characterized by the property of having amarked affinity for water. This property is itself of especial value,since it facilitates the dissolution of the glue particles which tend tobreak up more readily astheaction of water thereupon, even at ordinargtemperatures, is more vigorously .ex-

I- employ such of these lbnetallic salts as are furthercharacterized h eat upon the addition of water. This lastnamed property still furtherassists in distheadditional property of developing solving the glue byreason of the rise in temperature resulting in the nascent solution.Certain of the gel-inhibiting metallic salts which have the property ofa marked afiinity for water are, however, endothermic, as, for example,sodium nitrate. Such endothermic salts lack the added advantageaccompanying the use of those preferred metallic salts which theexothermic, such, for example, as the chlorids of calcium,,zinc, ormagnesium. Of these metallic chlorids I recommend calcium chlorid forcommercial reasons, as it is readily procurable at low cost. e

The specific products resulting from the of the exothermic metallicchlorids, and particularly calcium chlorid, constitute the sub'ject-matter of my companion application Serial Number 849,864, filed July9, 1914, of which this application is in part a continuation.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The process of producing a dry adhe 1 sive soluble in water atordinary tempera-' tures consistingin finely dividiniglue, separatelyfinely ividing a gel-inhi itant, and intimately mixing the twosubstances while each is in a finely divided state.

2. The process of producing-a dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinarytures, consisting in finely divi glue, se arately finely dividing a-gelinh1 iting su stance having a marked aflinity for water, and intimatelymixing the two substances while each- 's in a finely divided state.

3. The process of producing a dry ad,- hesive soluble in waterrat ordinatemperatures, consisting in finely divi g a gel-inhibiting exothermicsubstance, an intimately mixing the two substances while each is in afinely divided state.

' 4. The rocess of hesive solu le in water at ordinary temperaturesconsisting in finely dividing. glue,

separately finely dividing a 'gel-inlnbitm exothermic substance having amarked a and intimately the finity for water,

each is in a finely d1- vlded state.

.5 The process of producing a. dry ad- --hes1ve soluble in water atordinary temperatures comprising the-following steps: finelytemperaglue, l

producing a dry ada dividing glue; finely dividing a metallic saltcharacterized by the properties of high aifinity forwater'and capacityfor limiting gel-formation in a lue solution; and mechanically mixing te resultant fine divisions of glue and metallic salt intimately.

6. The process of producing a dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinarytemperatures, comprising the following steps: finely dividin glue;separately finely dividing a meta lic salt characterized by the capacityof tending to inhibit gel-formation in a glue solution; and mechanicallymixing the resultant fine divisions of glue and metallic saltintimately.

7. The process of producing a dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinarytemperatures, comprising the following steps: finely dividing glue;finely dividing an exothermic metallic salt characterized by thecapacity of tending to inhibit gel-formation in a glue solution; andmechanically mixing the resultant fine divisions of salt intimately.

8. The rocess of producing a dry adhesive solulile in water at ordinarytemperatures, comprising the following steps: finely dividing glue;finely dividing an exothermic metallic salt characterized by theproperties of high affinity for water and capacity for limitinggel-formation in a glue solution; and mechanically mixingthe resultantfine divisions of glue and metallic salt intimately. a

9. The method of controlling the solubility of dry glue consisting inintimately mixing therewith a finely divided inorganic gel-inhibitantand varying the quantity thereof in proportion to the jelly-strength ofthe glue and to the degree of solubility desired.

10. The method of controlling the tendency to gel-formation in animalglue solutions consisting in ascertaining the jellystrength of the glueand in intimately mixing therewith a finely divided inorganicgel-inhibitant in quantity predetermined by glue and metallic suchjelly-strength, and such that the solution will remain fluidat a giventemperature.

11. A dry adhesive composed of glue and a substance adapted to controlthe gelatinization of the glue to a predetermined degree.

. 12. A finely divided dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinarytemperatures composed of glue and an exothermic substance adapted tocontrol the gelatinization of the glue to a predetermined degree.

13. A finely divided dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinarytemperatures composed of glue and a substance having a high affinity forwater and adapted to control the gelatinization of the glue to apredetermined degree.

' 14. A dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinary temperatures composedof finely divided glue and a finely divided exothermic substance havinga high aflinity for water and adapted to control the gelatinization ofthe glue to a predetermined degree.

15. A dry adhesive composed of finely divided glue and a metallic saltadapted to control the gelatinization of the glue to a predetermineddegree.

16. A dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinary temperatures composed offinely divided glue and an exothermic metallic salt adapted to controlthe gelatinization of the glue to a predetermined degree.

17. A dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinary temperatures composed offinely divided glue and a metallic salt having a high affinity for Waterand adapted to control the gelatinization of the glue to a predetermineddegree.

18. A finely divided dry adhesive soluble in water at ordinarytemperatures composed of finely divided glue intimately mixed with afinelv divided exothermic salt having a high ailinity for water andadapted to control the gelatinization of the glue to a predetermineddegree.

JEROME ALEXANDER.

